Help with not leaving a will please

A question about : Help with not leaving a will please

Please help me to help my friend. A friend of mines mum has died 3 months ago without leaving a will and my friend and his sister will have her small estate of Ј4.000 divided between them both, at the moment my friends has his late mum money as he is the administrator of the estate, his sister fell out with there mum and him over 20 years ago and she might not even know that her mum has even died. My friend is not going to contact his sister and give her her share of there mums estate unless she contacts him first i wondered how the law stood on him not distributing his mums estate.

Best answers:

• Has he been formally appointed as administrator of the estate - as under a certain figure the bank will have just sent him the money on sight of a death cert and evidence of being a near relative
• Hi i dont think he has sworn an oath he just had to sign something at the bank to get his mums money transferred to his account he said he would give his sister her share if she came to ask about it ect
• I think he should at least start by writing to tell her their mother has died. He isn't entitled to simply 'keep' this money & if it all hits the fan it would be better sooner while he still has it, than later when he may well have spent it but still have to cough up what should be her share one way or another.
  I've got a family member holding on to what should be a shared inheritance - not from greed, but it is creating a worry for me. Does he really want it hanging over his head for 2k. He can get into trouble, it sounds as if they know where each other lives & you'd be surprised how 'word' can travel.
  Do this all properly.
• Estates total value under Ј5k do not go to probate therefore no letter of administration. Effectively anybody can become a personal representative where there is no will.
  This is a bit of a limbo situation that is not clear to bank staff etc as there is no official piece of paper.
  Contact the probate service for more information but maybe there should be some form of sworn affidavit to present to banks etc.
  In all cases, anybody dealing with an intestacy situation must abide by the law, so the money must be shared between surviving children in the first instance. You are entitled to cover consequential costs, funeral, etc out of the estate.